The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated this at a media briefing in Abuja,

Mohammed was reacting to “diversionary statements by some commentators, especially political and religious leaders” calling for Buhari’s resignation over purported spate of insecurity.

The minister conceded that the country was facing security challenges but they were being tackled headlong.

“There have been some red herrings in recent times, including those calling for the resignation of Mr President or the sack of the security chiefs.

“I just want to say that the government, which has provided and continues to provide the military and the security agencies with the wherewithal, believes in their ability to tackle insecurity.

“These challenges will be successfully tackled. I will however advice all commentators, especially political and religious leaders, to be very careful at this time not to aggravate the situation with incendiary comments.

“These are comments that cash in on our religious, ethnic and political fault lines to further divide us,” he said.
Mohammed stressed that the kind of comments that have been attributed to some leaders, especially religious leaders, are incendiary and reckless.

“Leaders should be part of solutions to problems, rather than aggravating situations. To those asking Mr. President to resign,

“I wish to say this: Mr President will not resign. He has the overwhelming mandate of Nigerians to preside over the affairs of the country till the expiration of his tenure in May 2023,” he said.

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Addressing newsmen on Monday in Lagos, the minister said the allegation made against him by Sen. Francis Fadahunsi representing Osun East Senatorial District, “is fake news”.

“You must have read the fake news attributed to Sen. Fadahunsi that I am behind the hate speech bill at the National Assembly, and that the senator who is sponsoring the bill is fronting for me

“This is a typical example of the fake news we are trying to fight.

“I am not the sponsor of the hate speech bill at the National Assembly. However, I remain committed to sanitising the social media.

“I have said that all stakeholders will be involved in determining the modalities for regulating the social media,” the minister said.

Fadahunsi had alleged that the minister was behind “the bill aimed at crippling quality and vibrant journalism”.

The lawmaker made the allegation while speaking with Journalists in Oshogbo.

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The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the accusation when he featured on a “TV Continental”, live Programme, monitored by our correspondent.

“Regrettably, the signs out there are not positive in the sense that in the last few weeks, the amount of seizures that have been made do not show that our neighbours are in a hurry to comply with Nigeria.

“As we speak today, there are three ships heading toward Benin Republic laden with about 105,000 metric tons of rice.

“This is a country of about 12 million people. That rice is meant for ultimate consumption of Nigerians.

“In addition, Benin Republic just negotiated with Japan to receive rice worth 30 million dollars.

“It is clear that the ultimate destination of the rice will be Nigeria and that is why we are appealing to our neighbours.

“First preservation is the first law of survival, we are doing this to preserve our economy and the security of our country,” he said.

The minister who disclosed that the border drill will be in place as long as necessary, noted that Nigeria could no longer continue to play the big brother at the expense of its economy and national security.

“The facts at our disposal reveal that 10,000 vehicles are imported every month into the Cotonou seaport.

“For a population of about 12 million people to be importing 120,000 vehicles in a year means that the vehicles are going to Nigeria with sufficient market.

“As I have said, there is no gain without pain, there will be discomfort at the beginning ultimately we believe it is going to be to the ultimate interest of Nigeria,” he said.

The minister reiterated that both Benin Republic and Niger Republic were hurting Nigeria’s economy and security because of their non compliance with the ECOWAS Protocol on Transit Goods and State of Origin.

“We have been on this dialogue since 2015 and the truth of the matter is that there has never been any legitimate transit trade between us and the two countries

“This is hurting our economy, affecting our security and no country will fold its arms when the overall interest of its people is being jeopardise,” he said.

The minister said that government decided to prohibit sale of fuel in filling stations less than 20km away from the borders because of the high level of smuggling of the product to neighbouring countries.

He said no fewer than 160 filling stations were affected by the directive and they were in such a large number because they primarily engage in smuggling.

“These are stations that when you drive into them in the day time, they will not be dispensing fuel until late in the night when they will smuggle the product across the border,” he said.

Mohammed disclosed that a very sizable proportion of the subsidised imported petrol into the country was finding its way to Benin Republic, Niger Republic and some other West African countries.

“What we find out is that we are actually subsidising the product not just for Nigerians but for many West African countries.

“For instance, if the landing cost of pms is about N200 today, in order to cushion the effect on the people, government sells at N140 per liter.

“Meaning that for every liter of fuel bought, the government is paying N60. If you consume one million litres a day, the government is paying N60 million a day.

“You can imagine that from what the government pays, it is the neighboring countries that benefit about 50 per cent of it,” he said.

Mohammed said that it had been provenly established that 95 per cent of illicit drugs , arms and ammunition came into the country through the land borders with attendant effect on increase in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other crimes.

He said with the border drill directive, there had been drastic reduction smuggling of drugs and arms into the country, thereby reducing rate of crimes.

The minister said that government was aware of the effects of the border drill on the citizens, particularly the spike in the price of rice, but the people must bear the temporary pains to reap the benefits.

It was reported that most of the viewers that called in to the programme supported the government on the partial border closure directive.

They contended that Nigeria had been reduced to a dumping ground for decades.

Some of them gave the examples of China that closed its borders for decades to achieve its vision of self reliance and becoming a nation to reckon with globally.

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The contractors handling the road disclosed this when the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed inspected the 127km road projects.

Our correspondent reports that Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc is handling Section one: Lagos to Shagamu, while the second section of the road from Shagamu to Ibadan is being handled by Messrs Reynoid Construction Company (RCC).

The section one being constructed by Julius Berger has a total of 43km with total contract sum of over N134 billion, while section two by RCC spans 84km with over N96 billion contract sum.

Addressing the minister at the Shagamu interchange of the road in Ogun, RCC project manager, Mr Naor Narkisi said the project had reached 58.27 per cent completion.

Speaking specifically on the section being handled by RCC, Narkisi said that 57km length of asphalt had been laid with an aggregate of 23,347 tons of bitumen and 18,730 tons of cement used.

He said 770,21 tons of reinforcement was used while they had constructed two bridges on the road.

On the workforce, he said RCC engaged 12 expatriates working on the site with 748 direct labour and 3740 indirect manpower.

Narkisi said he was confident that if they could not deliver the road by the end of the year, substantial work would have been done.

For his part, Mr Wolfgang Loesser, Julius Berger Divisional Manager, West, and the project manager said the company would resume fully on site in two days, first, with works on drainage system and traffic control

He said so far, 17km of three lanes on each side of the road had been fully completed.

As a solution to the harrowing traffic experiences at the Redeemed Christian Church of God camp axis of the road, Loesser said a large interchange would be constructed for control.

“Every Friday, there is a big church gathering in that axis and hundreds of thousands of people are coming there with their cars.

“There will be a very big interchange in order to stop the clogging which happens every Friday and, therefore, accommodate the church goers.

“The exchange will allow them to do a U-turn, while those going straight will not be obstructed,’’ he said.

The project manager said that the thickness of the road was a new design jointly made by his company and RCC with “additional 15 cm tough asphalt layer below the normal asphalt layers’’.

“You have the double width of thickness of the base course while the asphalt and mixture have been modified.

“Normally, in Nigeria’s road construction, you build with 25cm of base course and the asphalt layers, but in this new design, we have 40cm.

“We carried out a lot of laboratory tests to modify the bitumen to prevent rotten caused by heavy trucks and articulated vehicles,’’ he said.

Loesser said it was the first time the special asphalt mixture was being used in road construction in Nigeria and it was done to reinforce the road against damages by heavy duty lorries, trucks and tankers.

On the lifespan of the road, he said it was designed with standard for a period of 20 years.

The minister said the government as well as the contractors and consultants understood the importance of the road corridor to the economy of the nation and would leave no stone unturned for its completion.

He said the road contract was awarded in 2013, but since the new administration took over the project in 2015, the amount of progress made had been phenomenal.

“We will continue to work with the contractors and consultants to ensure speedy delivery of this project,’’ he said.

The minister explained why the Julius Bergers’ section one of the road contract with 43km had a higher contract sum than the RCC’s section two with 84km.

According to him, the section one, Lagos to Shagamu exchange carried

70 per cent of the traffic on the Lagos-Ibadan highway.

The minister said that the section one was significant and different in many effects, in terms of traffic, schools, churches, bridges, interchanges and pedestrian crossing.

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According to Vanguard, Mohammed stated this while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting, which was presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He explained that the President, who was in office on Tuesday, was asked to take some rest by his doctors.

He thanked Nigerians for their concern and prayers for the quick recovery of the president. “I know you will want to know why the President was not at the meeting.

“You are also aware that the President was at his office yesterday (Tuesday) and worked at the office.

” I think about a few days before now we did come out to say he has been asked to take some rest by his doctors and he chose today to rest instead of attending the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

“I want to use this opportunity to thank Nigerians who have expressed a lot of concern and sympathy and those who have been praying for him.

“We always said Mr President will stick to his doctors’ advice so that he can recover much more quickly,’’ he said.

Mohammed dismissed as wicked and ungodly the insinuation that the President’s health had deteriorated to the extent that he was being assisted before taking his meals.

“It is absolutely bunkum. It is absolutely untrue that he is being fed.

“He was in the office yesterday as you all reported. And if the doctor says `oh, you take a rest’, I think you recover faster when you rest and when you ought to rest rather that forcing yourself to work when you are not fit to work.

“All he is doing is that he is following the doctors’ advice. “So, whatever is happening today is not any new development. Is actually what he said that he has been advised to take it easy by his doctors and that he would soon also go back for further medical attention in the UK.,’’ he added.

According to the minister, President Buhari deserves commendation from all well-meaning individuals and groups for being transparent and upfront in the matter concerning his health.

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The minister stated this on Thursday in Ilorin at the Annual National Conference and General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) with the theme; “Communicating Values for Development and Sustainability’’.

The minister said that the report was invented by opposition and naysayers to malign him and the government, adding that the alleged fund is about the budget of his ministry for 25 years.

“How else can you explain that people will believe and circulate a fake report that the Minister of Information and Culture that is yours truly has 1.2 billion dollars in his imaginary bank account?

“Let’s examine this for a moment. 1.2 billion dollars is about N400 billion.

“The entire yearly budget of the Ministry of Information and Culture, where I preside, is under 15 billion Naira and these include salaries, overhead and capital projects.

“Assuming, without conceding that the Minister somehow manages to transfer the entire budget into his personal account, it will take 25 years for him to amass N400 billion.

“Yet, this disinformation was lapped up by the public, he said.

The minister said that similar imaginary huge sums of money had been credited to other ministers.

He condemned the ugly trend by opposition, who were inventing the fake and malicious stories using bloggers and some online media to malign government officials.

According to him, the intention of the perpetrators and carriers of the reports are to distract the government to lose focus, but it will not fall to their antics.

The minister said that Public Relations gave him the first break in life being the profession he practiced after his graduation for over 40 years.

Mohammed, a Fellow of the Institute said that the theme of the conference was apt and called on NIPR members to be proactive in the discharge of their duties.

“You must neither be intimidated, cowed nor be overwhelmed by the cynics, you must set your own agenda and daily review such with a view to improving on them.

“You must never lose touch with your traditional constituents. You must understand the tactics of the opposition, which is ambush and irrational,’’ he said.

The minister specifically tasked government information managers to equip themselves with qualities such as integrity, courage, abnormal capacity for hard work, ingenuity resourcefulness and ability to think out of the box.

The President and Chairman Governing Council of NIPR, Dr Rotimi Oladele said the conference was to deliberate on how the profession could be used to promote communication values for development.

He underscored the need for practitioners to showcase national values and present them to global market.

Oladele commended the minister for the support given to the Institute and for creating time to attend the event.

It was reported that the minister also inaugurated a new Governing Council for the Institute to run for two years under the leadership of Oladele.

Some of the members of the Council are, former Defence Spokesperson, retired Gen. Chris Olukolade, former Director of Press and Protocol in the Ministry of Information and Culture, Mr Peter Dama and his successor, Mr Timothy Oyedeji.

Others are Mr Wale Adeniyi of Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Sule Yau a former Chief Press Secretary to Kano State Government and Alhaja Bola Osifeso.

It was also reported that 10 members of NIPR were inducted to Fellowship of the Institute.

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The minister said this on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in an interview with newsmen at the 59th Meeting of UNWTO Commission for Africa.

Our correspondent reports Mohammed is leading Nigeria’s delegation to the four-day conference of Africa Ministers of Tourism, the highest UN advisory body on tourism globally.

“The UNWTO Secretary General, Mr Taleb Rifai, a Jordanian will be leaving after a very successful two terms and we all believe that it is the turn of Africa to occupy this post.

“Of course, intensive lobbying has been going on, but the most important thing for us is to ensure that we use all available opportunity to ensure we produce the next Secretary General.

“There are candidates from Africa, Europe and Brazil but for us who are ministers from Africa, we want to ensure that an African emerged as the next Secretary General of UNWTO,’’ he said.

Mohammed said that Nigeria would use the ongoing meeting with the theme: “2017 as Year of Sustainable Tourism’’, to leverage on the achievements recorded so far on tourism sector.

He recalled that the 58th Edition held in Cote d’Ívoire last year was used to re-launch the country back to the UNWTO fold and it had yielded fruits.

“After the meeting in Abidjan last year, Nigeria was invited to the headquarters of UNWTO in Madrid, Spain where a session was dedicated exclusively to address Nigeria’s challenges on tourism.

“It is as a result of the meeting that UNWTO sent experts to Nigeria to review our Tourism Development Plan.

“We hosted them for five days in December last year, and during the meetings, the experts met with cross section of all the major stakeholders in the industry.

“We are already implementing recommendations from the engagements and they are yielding results,’’ he said.

The minister said that the second leg of the meeting –a High Level Meeting on Chinese Outbound Tourism in Africa will strengthen cultural relation between China and African countries with Nigeria in particular.

He said that the meeting would review the proposal by China to Africa on facilitating cultural exchange and visit of Africans to China.

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R-L: Dr Adeleke Ipaye, Senior Special Assistant to Osun State Governor, representing the Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Molara Wood, Head Corporate Communications, Resort International Ltd, representing Dr Wale Babalakin; Mr Segun Adeleye, President/CEO World Stage Ltd and founder Segun Adeleye Foundation for Good Leadership in Africa (SAFFGLIA); Mr Joe Bankole, Head of Lagos Operations, News Agency of Nigeria representing Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Mrs Tosin Adeleye, Trustee of SAFFGLIA at the launch of the foundation and a book, So Long Too Long Nigeria by Segun Adeleye at the Afe Babalola Hall, University of Lagos on Thursday

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on Thursday that President Mohammadu Buhari has demonstrated his commitment and that of his Government to fighting corruption and championing the recovery of looted public resources.

Mohammed made the remark as Guest Speaker at the African Leadership Lecture of the Saffglia Foundation held at the University of Lagos, Akoka.

The minister, represented by Mr Joe Bankole, Head, Lagos Operations of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), admonished Nigerians to give their total support to the initiatives of the Buhari administration as it fights corruption head-on, saying that corruption had become a scourge, which should be fully confronted.

“Efforts are strategically being made to investigate areas of deliberate infractions in law and more illegally-acquired wealth is being uncovered and recovered.

“There is no doubt that the major challenge militating against the progress of Africa is corruption. We are blessed with two sons of Africa who are frontally addressing this cankerworm.

“It is only a matter of time before Nigeria, in particular and Africa, in general, is returned to the path of rectitude,’’ he said.

The minister cited the case of President John Magufuli of Tanzania, who was nicknamed “The Bulldozer’’, by his countrymen, as a result of his quest for inimitable leadership.

“Magufuli won the Presidential election in Tanzania and deployed uncommon energy in performing his duty, not considering his detractors who, unexpectedly, are his friends.

“Magufuli was faced with five challenges: a programme to build roads across the country, and a keen interest on details, to see to the completion of the projects.

“He was also faced with accusations from friends who regard his administration as too strict and others referring to his style as too abrasive for auctioning state-owned houses to government employees and the public, corruption, jobs, education, constitutional reforms and the Zanzibar crisis.

According to a former Tanzanian Prime Minister, Joseph Warioba, “Manguli was for many years minister for works, supervising the execution of mega projects worth trillions of Tanzanian shillings, but was never implicated in any corruption scandal. He could have been the richest politician in the country.’’

Mohammed said that Nigerians needed to take a cue from such leadership.

The minister, however, called for an agenda by the Progressives in Africa, as set by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation through the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Leadership in Africa, on what to expect from leaders in the continent.

“As a way to expand these, the basic ingredients for setting the agenda for good leadership in Africa can be submitted under the following ideas of leadership, honesty, sincerity, transparency, selflessness and accountability,’’ he said.

Mr Segun Adeleye, founder, Segun Adeleye Foundation for Good Leadership in Africa (SAFFGLIA), urged Nigerians to rise up and speak for good leadership in the country. .He spoke on a variety of issues affecting good leadership in Nigeria, such as the inability of citizens to air their views on leadership, corruption, western influences on culture, among others.

“It is easy to take things for granted, asking what we have gained from the talks in the past. This explains why we don’t seem knowledgeable in this part of the world.

“Many chief executives or top government officials readily share their wealth of experience with the rest of the world at conferences.

“But in most cases, they are only trying to be careful, to protect their comfort zones and avoid being misunderstood or to be seen to be opposed to the authority in power.

“But can we really make progress without speaking our minds? If we are not making progress here, in spite of how much we talk, we must either be saying the right thing or not listening,’’ he said.

Adeleye charged the citizens not to see the fight against corruption as a battle for the few but a collective fight all must be engaged in, to move the country forward.

He, however, urged the citizens to appreciate education as a means of promoting native culture and dialects and a means that seeks to destroy the traditional institutions.

“Education, the advancement of knowledge, is at the initiative and pace of the foreigners on what Africa must learn and believe. Native languages have become secondary languages.

“The best of African can only be in an imposed curriculum with success being judged by the prism of foreign standards. The history of African has been limited by European versions.

“In Africa now, we are made to believe we are inferior, the Muslims are not comfortable with fellow Muslims, but history made us to know that we are all from same parents.

“If a politician that stole so much to provide comfort for his family can be made to see that the remaining populace left to suffer are his family, will he not think twice?

Adeleye said that Nigerians should rise and see that there are wrong things in the society and urged that all hands must be on deck to speak against corruption.

“The most dangerous trend now is that most African don’t even know that something is wrong, while those that have the feelings that something is missing have given up.

“If something is not wrong, why are Africans playing second fiddle in all human endeavours such as sports, entertainment, art, governance, science and the rest.

Adeleye tasked the Africans to use history as an instrument to correct the ills in the society.

“When I thought about this great tragedy, the two possible solutions that came to my mind were that, first if it is possible to have a government in any African country.

“A community of African leaders will be conscious of the full history, so that they can live it, preach if for Africans to start seeing that they are perfectly made.

“This is without any subjugation to others; unlimitedly endowed to attain any goal they set their minds on.

“Only few Africans, such as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti that had seen the history ended up being radicaisedl and revolutionary in nature. In the entire African countries, they can be counted on the fingertips,’’ he said.

Adeleye said his foundation would lead the crusade for good leadership in Africa by making Africans to rediscover who they are.

He also said that the foundation would carry out activities and projects that should encourage governments in Africa to embrace good governance, to better the living standards of Africans. (NAN)

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